draft notice text

[Dave Pawson]

On Sun, 2004-09-19 at 06:40, Karsten Wade wrote:

> > I gather you're speaking for rhel Karsten?
> 
> Never let it be said that I speak for RHEL ... :) ... I speak for myself
> only, unless otherwise stated.

In which case my question remains, modified.
Are fc documents being processed by 'todays' tools, i.e. xslt
and the current docbook stylesheets?



> Because the answer is, what are you talking about?, Fedora is not using
> the SGML toolchain.

You refer to them so regularly Karsten, I'd presumed you were using
them?



> My explanation of how a company can get locked into using an aging
> system because of the difficulty of change should be explanation
> enough.  It is a common enough occurrence.
> 
> If you don't understand the example, perhaps it's because you haven't
> experienced it yet?  It's far easier for an individual to change systems
> than for a company.
I used DSSSL and SGML for about 12 months, then XML and its tools
started to appear. 
  I have seen what I called the 'blue' effect though. 
I find it repugnant, and rarely justifiable in terms of cost.


> > > That means I'm writing 100% in XML, as soon as I take the few hours to
> > > convert my existing work from SGML. :-)
> > Take a look at James Clarks sx. It works.
> 
> I will, thanks; that may help with existing SGML guides.
A while back I moved most of the xfree-86 docs over to XML that way.
Its not 100% automated, but it covers the grunt work,
and leaves workable documents.



>  Still, we've
> been trying to follow XML practices, and in many cases we can get away
> with just changing the DOCTYPE. 

sx, with the doctype remaining that of the SGML dtd is mostly cleaner,
especially for those making use of the SGML shorthands.
Thereafter, a stylesheet can undo most of the remaining issues
to produce a valid document.


> PDF is wanted.
In the fc2 documentation? I haven't seen any. 
 Is the current fop in use?

> 
> I'm not personally bound to the dead tree method of documenting, but
> many of our readers are. 
Fedora readers?

-- 
Regards DaveP.
XSLT&Docbook  FAQ
http://www.dpawson.co.uk/xsl